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Tokyo Olympics begins with electrifying opening ceremony: Check who leads the Indian contingent!

By alagu, 23 July, 2021
Tokyo Olympics 2021, Olympics, India

The 2020 edition of the Olympics has begun in the Japanese capital of Tokyo and by the time of writing his content, the National Stadium in Tokyo has commenced the global sporting event amid the global pandemic in electrifying fireworks. The global attention will be towards Tokyo for the next two weeks to spectacle the furious competition and how the Japanese city is hosting the world's largest sporting event in the albeit of battling the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Tokyo National stadium has gone diversified as the quadrennial sporting event has officially kicked off. Tokyo Olympics will be held from July 23 to August 8 and will be participated by over 15,000 athletes from 200 countries. What should have been held in 2020 as per the four-year mandate was kept deferring in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The games were postponed for over a year and now it's finally has begun amid prevailing dissents and concerns in Japan over growing Covid-19 cases. 

Japan's Emperor Naruhito is presiding over the opening ceremony. The ceremony is attended by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and some of the world leaders attending the ceremony include First Lady of the United States Jill Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron. The stadium, which has a seating capacity of 68,000, will only be accommodating only a few hundred dignitaries and special guests. For the first time in the history of the Olympics, the opening ceremony is underway without spectators as the international and domestic fans have been banned from all the Olympic venues in Tokyo as part of Japan's strict measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The opening ceremony will be held for four hours and Greece, which hosted the Olympics for the first time, will begin the march as per the tradition and it will be followed by the rest of the contingents from across the globe. Hundreds of Indian athletes will be participating in the Olympics and boxing great Mary Kom and men's hockey captain Manpreet Singh will lead the Indian contingent in the opening ceremony as flag bearers. The number of athletes in the opening ceremony has also been limited and around 28 Indian athletes will be taking part in the opening ceremony. 

According to Al Jazeera, top sponsors including Toyota and Panasonic had decided to not send their representatives to the opening ceremony. Over 15,000 - 11,000 athletes for the summer Olympics and over 4,000 for paralympic games will be participating in the sporting event and will contest 339 medal events across 50 disciplines in 33 sports. While the Covid-19 cases are growing at an alarming rate in Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Suga has cited the games as the beginning of a return to normalcy after a year and he urged the athletes to fully demonstrate their abilities and show their very best performances. 

In a video message, the Japanese Prime Minister further said, "The sight of athletes aiming to be the very best in the world gives dreams and courage to young people and children and deeply moves them." As India has become one of the largest contingents with the US being the first with 613 players, the celebrations had begun across the country in the metro cities including Delhi. A significant number of women athletes of India are preparing to show their prowess in the games and to bag the medals. 

Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be different from its predecessors and probably from its successors as what has been called the biggest sporting event in the world would be unfolded in Tokyo in the midst of tensions and protests. The city and the territory of Japan had witnessed several protests there were more episodes of unrest whenever the Japanese government had affirmed its commitment to hosting the Olympics. Tokyo will write a history of how it has hosted the global sporting event amid battling the global pandemic. 

To host the games, Tokyo has constructed a total of eight new permanent venues while ten venues will stand temporarily and the city will be using 25 existing venues. As part of its strict Covid protocol, Tokyo has been testing the athletes and officials who are suspected to have contracted the viral infection. They will be tested in a dedicated fever clinic in the Olympic village, which is expected to host 90,000 members including athletes, officials, staff members, and media persons. It has been reported that 80% of the village occupants have been vaccinated.

While Tokyo is hosting the Olympics with a total budget of a whopping $15.4 million, the city will be witnessing protests outside the National Stadium during the opening ceremony. According to reports, the protestors had gathered outside the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building on Friday as the Olympic torch arrived at the complex. The protesters have said that they will hold demonstrations near the stadium against conducting the Olympics.

It must be noted that around 4,15,000 people in Japan had signed a petition asking to cancel the Olympics. Amid such an unprecedented fashion of protests against the Olympics, Tokyo is all set to host the games and while it will get a place in history as a host, the question of how it successfully hosted the games amid the pandemic will be answered after two weeks. As of Friday morning, the Olympic village has reported 106 COVID-19 cases which include athletes and staff members. 

 

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